That’s probably an odd thing to say, since Sycamore Meadows is not, by most metrics, a happy album. Butch Walker’s fourth solo LP was birthed in part from the California wildfires that destroyed his home, most of his possessions, and the master tapes for every song he’d ever recorded up to that point. The songs catalog breakups, painful journeys of self-discovery, and the record business being irreversibly fucked. The album’s last track is a sobering piano ballad that bears one of the most emotional vocal performances Butch ever put on tape.

I don’t think he publicly released it, but it’s been shared around some of the Butch Walker fan communities on Facebook and stuff. Apparently he wrote it from the perspective of a little girl who died of a brain tumor. The girl’s uncle put it up on YouTube, so I’m guessing it’s a family Butch knows personally.

Butch Walker has unveiled some new tour dates and announced he’s working on a new album.

That being said, I’ve been kindly keeping my head buried in lots of projects, records being produced for other fun artists (Fall Out Boy, Weezer, The Struts, Rob Thomas, Andrew Mcmahon, Matt Nathanson, and more coming), doing a lot of charity shows for some causes near and dear, and..STARTING A NEW RECORD OF MY OWN!

Also, this beautiful record I’ve been producing for Andrew Mcmahon in the Wilderness is almost done, and the first song from it is “Ohio”. Hard to describe how much I love Andrew, his journey, and his work over the years. And mostly THIS SONG.

“I don’t know what to write about after this record. I’m saying it all. The well is tapped. Maybe no more albums after this one.”

Butch Walker tweeted those words in January of this year, stoking rumors that his then-still-untitled 2016 album might be his last. I don’t expect Walker to follow through with this particular threat. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from almost 12 years of holding Butch to be my favorite artist, it’s that the guy has an incredible, incessant love for music. He’s the kind of guy who would retire and then be antsy to get back into the studio after a month. If Stay Gold does end up being the last Butch Walker album, though, then it’s sure as shit the right kind of album to go out with. 2016 has been a dark year in a lot of ways, and just reading through the headlines these days is enough to make even the most sensible person want to stick their head in the sand. But Stay Gold is all brash guitars and sunny optimism, a quintessential summer record that stands as this year’s most celebratory work. Rarely has Butch’s love for music, lyrics, stories, and guitar solos been on such gleeful display. Frankly, this is the kind of life-affirming album we need right now. At least, it’s the one I needed.

Walker and Monroe first met when she did a guest vocal for an album he was producing. The two hit it off, remained in touch, and vowed to write a song together. On a recent flight to Los Angeles, Monroe and Walker were texting “about the struggle of survival,” when the plane started making its landing.

Butch Walker’s new song “Stay Gold” can be heard below via Rolling Stone. His new, really-damn-good, album of the same name will be out on August 26th.

“The line in the song is, ‘In a world so black and white, boy, stay gold,'” continues Walker, “and that, to me, sums up where we are right now. Not to get political or anything, but it’s just everything is black and white — there’s no gray area. So, if there’s any advice I can give anybody it’s just to have their own fucking opinion.”

This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on June 18th, 2016. First impressions are meant to be quick, fun, initial impressions on an album or release as I listen to it for the first time. It’s a running commentary written while listening to an album — not a review. More like a diary of thoughts. This post has been lightly edited for structure and flow.

Hey, only basically a day late on this! But, here I am! Today was a day of trying to catch up on a lot of work and then I like to spend a day every few weeks trying to do something I dedicated to learning and education — so today was also spent going through my to watch queue and only watching the educational videos I have saved up (I use the “add to Plex” bookmarklet to save videos and things like that to my Plex library to then watch on the TV, it’s a great little tool that I definitely recommend). Overall, not a bad day at all.

Tonight I’m going to do some blogging/writing about the new album from Butch Walker. The album is called Stay Gold, and it will be out on August 26th.

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It looks like the new Butch Walker album will be called Stay Gold. In a recent interview with the BGX Radio Hour, Butch played two new songs acoustic, and two live videos have also recently shown up — you can find all of those below.

Sometimes, albums need to be made. Whether motivated by the break-up of a long relationship, the death of a loved one, or some other life-changing incident, there are certain records that aren’t just artistic choices for the musician making them, but artistic necessities. Butch Walker is no stranger to these kinds of records. He made one of them six years ago, after losing his home in a wildfire and getting a new perspective on the things that really mattered; he did it again two years ago, hurrying to finish a set of songs so that his father would hear them before he died. Both of those albums, the 2008 LP Sycamore Meadows and the 2013 EP Peachtree Battle dealt with heartbreaking situations, but turned them into life-affirming statements. The former is a reminder that material possession is never the most important thing in life, while the latter is a love letter to Butch’s father and the relationship the two shared; both are the kind of personal and intimate records artists don’t make anymore.